A one-bedroom apartment on the 13th floor is nearly finished this spring at The Moderne, the new condo and apartment building at the corner of Old World Third St. and W. Juneau Ave.

Five years ago, Milwaukee developer Rick Barrett proposed a high-rise for downtown's west side - an area devoid of large construction projects over the past several years.

Dubbed the Moderne, Barrett initially proposed a 120-room hotel, 80 condos and street-level retail space. But when the downtown condo boom went bust, and financing dried up for new hotels, he reconfigured the 30-story project into 203 apartments and 14 condos. With the help of a $41.4 million private loan and $9.3 million in city loans, construction began in January 2011 and is nearly complete. | Dec. 15, 2012»Read Full Article

Coming out of a tough economic period amid uncertain growth prospects and new regulations, Wisconsin's banking industry is seeing a boost in consolidation for the first time in years.

Six Wisconsin mergers involving banks have been completed or proposed so far in 2012, and three other banks have voluntarily liquidated and sold their assets to financial institutions, regulatory data shows. That compares with an average of about three merger and acquisition announcements in each of the previous three years. | Dec. 15, 2012»Read Full Article

The nonprofit health systems in the Milwaukee area are quick to state their support for access to care and to note the costs they incur from people who don't have health insurance.

But that doesn't mean they are urging Gov. Scott Walker to expand the Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act, even with the federal government paying 100% of the cost through 2016, before declining to 90% in 2019. | Dec. 15, 2012»Read Full Article(12)